It was a 7-6 West Virginia team in 2017. Also that's the last time Utah's won a bowl game.

It is obvious that Utah has done well in a conference that has been trending downward. Fan support is atrocious, and now that the two actually marketable teams have bolted the conference, the two teams with the most tradition and following, what's left is a shadow of what the PAC12 was, and the PAC12 at its best was only a shadow of what the PAC10 was if we're honest.

And to call Utah a competitive program is laughable. They have done well in one(!) sport most people care about over the last decade, but they have done it against a PAC12 that was not terribly competitive in that time, and the rest of their sports outside of gymnastics have not been something to talk about.

In terms of nationally perceived brand value, they are clearly behind Oregon, Washington, Stanford, Cal, UofA and ASU; and I would argue that they are behind Colorado as well. At best, the value of the program is in the WSU, OSU range. Utah is not close to being the dominant brand in Utah, much less anywhere else.

Utah is not a competitive program. If the market saw a demand for Utah, where's the invite off of the sinking ship? The PAC?? is ripe for the picking, and if nobody is jumping to grab Oregon or Washington, they aren't going to throw a line to grab Utah.